Brentford provide ‘brilliant’ friendly opposition
Hawks warmed up for a welcome return to National League South action with a trip to take on Premier League Brentford earlier this week.
Paul Doswell took his squad to take on a strong Bees line-up in a friendly at their training base on Monday.
Striker Scott Rendell’s penalty on the hour had briefly brought Hawks level before they eventually fell to a 2-1 defeat against Premier League opponents.
Boss Doswell, whose side will have gone 23 days without a competitive match by the time they visit bottom-side Billericay on Saturday, felt the visit was a ‘brilliant exercise’.
And the Hawks boss saw it as crucial getting minutes into his players after such a long lay-off between fixtures, as they took on a Bees including strikers Yoane Wissa, Marcus Forss and several other players who have featured for Thomas Frank’s side in the top-flight this season.
Doswell said: ‘We had a very, very good exercise on Monday. We went to
Brentford and played (a friendly) - there were actually seven or eight players who were on the bench against Liverpool - so it was a brilliant exercise.
‘It was a nice training ground, they treated us really well - I actually looked at their side last night (team which lost to Man United) and most of their substitutes played against us - so it was a good visit.
‘Most of the ones who played were on the bench against Liverpool and played a large chunk of Championship games last season, so it was a good exercise.’
It’s the second time in a matter of weeks Hawks have faced Premier League opponents in a friendly.
During an extended break between fixtures pre-Christmas Doswell organised for his squad to take on Crystal Palace under23s at their new training base.
Hawks ran out 2-1 winners in that friendly battle last month with goals from Rendell and Jake Andrews downing the Eagles’ young guns.